No shock here, the AAFL may be dead before it even started.

The league will push its plans back to 2009 unless it secures a TV deal or other funding.

The league announced Thursday it was exploring “multiple financing options” to address its funding crisis.

The AAFL was formed to fill the void created when the NFL shut down NFL Europe earlier this year after 16 seasons. That league was losing a reported $30 million a season, and now the AAFL, lacking a TV deal, also faces a financial crisis before it can stage its first game.

Was there really a “void” when NFL Europa closed shop? Hell, it was mostly a void itself, with only 1 team in the stinking league playing outside of Germany. But aside from that point, if NFL Europe was hemorrhaging money (or marks), what makes the AAFL think they can do any better? Oh, that’s right, the league consisted entirely of 4 year college grads, restricted by region. That’s a gameplan.

And the reason for failure? One might say that there’s simply no demand for football outside of the NFL and NCAA (see also: The AFL. So glad Toledo is gunning for an AF2 team.). One could also simply blame something completely unrelated, but evil enough that everybody might just buy it.

According to a statement released by the league, the AAFL’s financial problems are tied to the national subprime mortgage crisis.

Yeah, not buying it. That’s like saying NFL Europe closed shop because of global warming.

MY AARP CARD CAME IN!

Click here for the official Apackerlypse sounder.

With the NFL Free Agency market opening up last week, there have been plenty of noted moves. Derek Anderson got some respect from his team (still none from the ladies), The Lions tried to trade Shaun Rogers to two teams (Lions fan hated both moves), and just happening yesterday/today, Ben Roethlisberger got paid. But there’s one seemingly minor story that has piqued my curiosity the most:

The Chicago Bears, who re-signed Rex Grossman and gave Kyle Orton a contract extension, traded backup quarterback Brian Griese to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for an undisclosed draft choice.

There are two things in that opening sentence alone that are curious.

1. The Chicago Bears are putting their eggs in the baskets of the Sex Cannon and the Neckbeard.
2. Tampa Bay now has 5 quarterbacks on their roster. 6 if you count Jake Plummer.

And I’m not exactly sure what to say to this. On one hand, there’s no reason to have that many QBs on your roster. Especially when the only halfway decent ones are the one they just acquired and the one they got from Detroit (Sorry, Bruce.) But, even with those guys on the roster, they’ve still got a ton of cap space (before the start of free agency, they had $44 mil to play with). So hell, they could get 2 or 3 more quarterbacks. Maybe raise them on a ranch. (There’s a Chocobo joke here that I’m not going to make, simply because I don’t want to use the term “mate” anywhere near this article blog.)

Honestly, they’ve got to dump one or two guys, right? If I had to guess, I would say McCown gets traded somewhere (Atlanta, perhaps? Nah.), and Gradkowski plays indoors. But hell, why not just spin the wheel and throw a random QB out on every play? You wanna talk about keeping the defense on their toes; they won’t know what kind of wounded duck pass they can pick off!